


Got Your Six

by TrustMeImTheAuthor



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: And DRAMAAAA, And Excitement, And You Fuck More Than One Of Them, Bitch Get Here It's a Party, Both of You Are Switches, But Also Adventure, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Gen, Genderless, It's About To Be So Queer It's Painful, M/M, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Other, You Have Many Suitors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:08:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29346387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrustMeImTheAuthor/pseuds/TrustMeImTheAuthor
Summary: **This story is written so that, hopefully, any reader can enjoy the character "Six".  Male, female, and genderqueer peeps are all welcome and encouraged.  This character also won't specify many physical traits, to allow for as much inclusivity as possible**Your life had never, ever been simple.  But after saving the Mandalorian when you were originally hired to collect a bounty on his weird green son, things got impossibly more complicated.  His ship stolen, himself stranded and basically rendered powerless, he was forced to rely on you.  You must continue to decide if saving a father and son you don't even know is worth more to you than your life.  If it's worth playing host to arguably one of the galaxy's most dangerous bounty hunters.  Other than yourself, of course.  Can't leave that out.Oh and he might pay you!  If you ever get to the fucking ship.
Relationships: Din Djarin/Reader, Din Djarin/You, Reader/Various Characters, reader/oc
Comments: 7
Kudos: 24





	1. You've Got a Frenemy in Me

Koldith’s half-mangled face was sneering back at the Mandalorian as he yanked testily against the hard metal attaching him to the chair. Normally the sound should clank against Beskar, but right then it just hit the fabric of his underclothes, putting pressure on his forearm. The helmet tilted upward, radiating unpleasantness in Koldith’s general direction. His captor huffed a bit under his breath, but kept his distance from the bounty hunter. 

“Didn’t count on me seein’ those fun little toys you got in your arm plates, did ya?'' he grunted, shaking the blaster in his hand at him slightly as if to chastise him. He darted back a few feet, towards one of the tables nearby. The scuff of his worn boots chuffed throughout the flight hanger. All around him, Mando could see dark, muddled shapes, which he assumed to be docked ships at rest. _Where the hell is my ship_ , he bemoaned, straining behind the helmet to peer further into the melded shapes. 

The clatter of items on the table snapped his attention away. Koldith turned around, waving something in front of him with his free hand. 

_Blink. Blink. Blink._

A fucking tracker.

For a moment, the Mandalorian was absolutely still. Koldith wondered fleetingly what his reaction was, under all that metal. Then Mando leaned forward until his arms and ankles pushed against the restraints.

“If you take that kid right now, I’ll tell you how the rest will go down.” The voice was smooth as glass, and for a second it shook Koldith. Then the blaster stabilized its aim, and Koldith’s scars rippled with his smile. 

“Hah-Look at where you are, Mandalorian. I won this time. But I respect your work, so I’m givin’ you the chance to-”

“First you’ll take one of these ships to escape,” Mando interrupted, voice still steady and fuming. “Then I’ll make quick work of these restraints. Then I’ll spend every second pursuing you until I find you, and gut you like a fish.” 

“So I should kill you then, is what you’re sayin?’' Koldith retorted, his frustration quite clear. He rushed a few steps forward, pressing the muzzle of the weapon in between the other’s breast and shoulder plates. Mando didn’t react, despite the discomfort of the metal pressing into his skin. 

“No, Koldith. I think you should drop the blaster before I end the pissing contest with one shot.” 

Koldith froze at the sound of your voice. The Mandalorian tried to adjust to see the figure behind Koldith, but the blaster was still a major threat and he no longer felt confident in the situation. He remained still, left hand clenching subtly into a fist. 

“What the fuck are _you_ doing here?” Koldith practically snarled. Mando watched his expressions intently, trying to read him. Right now he just looked exceptionally angry. And worried.

“Take a guess,” you lobbed back, uninterested in his whiny bullshit. Your arm, steady as ever, continued to extend outwards, the blaster on the end of it aimed perfectly at his skull. Koldith sighed, aggrieved. 

“You gonna use me as target practice, Six?

“I’m gonna see if we can come to a deal,” you reply simply, advancing forward. Your steps, which had been so quiet and careful over the past several minutes, now rang confidently into the hanger. “And if not, then yeah, I might use you for practice.” Koldith sniffed, starting to pull the blaster away and turn around as he began, 

“Oh well why didn’t you say-”

“Put the blaster back on the Mandalorian. Now.” All flippantness was vacant from your tone. You fired a warning shot, which whizzed just past his right ear. He felt the heat of it and hissed, whipping back around to return his blaster in between Mando’s armor. “Where’s the bounty. It’s not the Mandalorian.” Koldith was quiet for a moment, staring right at the helmet. Mando stared back at him, though he figured the other would never know. “Are you sure you’re going to live through another trigger squeeze from me?” you pondered aloud, advancing slightly more. You were now about ten feet from him- a shot Koldith knew all too well was impossible to miss. 

“Over there,” he twisted his head to the right, his tone defeated. You carefully tracked your eyes to the right, using your free hand to click on a flashlight from your pocket. The beam glistened off a pair of wide, beady eyes staring back at you in the dark. At first it startled you slightly, but then your sight adjusted and you realized- 

“The kid?” you asked, a slight amount of incredulity seeping into your tone. 

“Yes.” 

You blew out a breath, pocketing the flashlight once more. You’d been working a LOT of odd jobs these past years. Lots of bounties, lots of retrieving, lots of… unsavory shit. Never encountered a choice like this, though. You didn’t do innocents. It wasn’t your… style? 

“What? You got cold feet cause it’s a kid?” he called out, the arm holding his blaster twitching slightly. Mando looked at Koldith’s forehead, considering it. _If I strike with my helmet now,_ he thought, _maybe that gives me enough time to grab the blaster if he drops it before they-_

“So that’s why you stole it back,” you called out, interrupting his train of thought. You took a few steps around, moving from behind Koldith and into the Mandalorian’s sightline. Mando said nothing, but turned his head slightly to get a better look at you. You stared at him for a long moment, trying to catch any tell or sign from his body language. He conveyed nothing. You sighed, rolled your eyes, and pulled the trigger. 

Koldith made a small croak, and then the sound of a body smacking the ground reverberated in the hanger. You stayed put, eyes sharp on the Mandalorian’s helmet once more. For a moment, no one moved. The echo finally dissipated and wore out, leaving the air thick and stagnant. 

A rustle. A small cooing. Silence again. 

You sniffed suddenly, revitalizing yourself as you lowered your blaster arm. There was a small stool over by the kid, which you strode to and grabbed. As you passed by, you peered again at the small child in the bassinet-thingy. It looked green and wrinkly, and the ears were far larger than you had originally made out. Cute. A huge problem, but cute. You turned away just as quickly as you looked, never breaking stride as you went to plop the stool down a smart distance away from the other bounty hunter. Sitting, you placed both forearms on your knees, and stared again. The Mandalorian straightened up, eyes darting to look at the indeed dead Koldith before returning to the stern gaze in front of him. 

“You can imagine the predicament I might be in right now,” you stated simply. The Mandalorian immediately caught on to the sort of talking you were doing. The staring betrayed the truth- you needed to know exactly who you were dealing with. Mando took a breath.

“I do.” 

“I’m not stupid. I know I can’t beat you in a fair fight… They said they’d let you back, though.” It was silent. “If you brought the bounty.” 

“That’s not going to happen,” came the flat, low reply. You shrugged, straightening up. You figured as much. Turning away from him, you returned over to the bassinet, taking the edge of it and dragging it alongside you. It floated willingly through the air. The child inside teetered at the movement and sat in the blankets, big doe eyes staring up in puzzlement. You brought it before the Mandalorian, keeping a distance. He tensed. 

“Do you know how many people are after this?” you asked calmly, gesturing the blaster at the child. 

“Don’t do that,” he demanded, leaning forward some. You looked at him questioningly, before glancing at your blaster and lowering it. 

“Sorry. Not used to kids at work,” you grumbled, more to yourself than anyone else as you side-eyed the bassinet. The Mandalorian didn’t relax at all. “The answer is a lot of people. A shit ton, even.” 

“What’s your point,” he pushed. His wrists were pressing against the metal clasps holding him down. You looked at him, giving his bindings an obvious scan as you did. It needed to be clear who had the power over his freedom right now. 

“My _point_ is that sooner or later you’re dead meat and so’s the kid.” 

“I don’t agree,” he said. You laughed good-naturedly. There was something about his dark, sinister ‘I’m different’ routine that tickled you. 

“I could kill you right now if I wanted to. I wouldn’t even have to get all close and personal like Koldith. I can make the shot in between the armor from here.” Your tone wasn’t one of malice. It was simply an announcement. You figured he deserved to know the truth of the situation. Especially a man of his talent and reputation. 

“But you haven’t.” This caught you off-guard a bit. Not because of the retort itself, but because you didn’t know why he was right. _Am I considering letting him go?_ You wondered to yourself, surprised. This wasn’t like you. Although, running into father/infant son pairings on these calls wasn’t exactly typical. 

“No,” you finally decided to reply. “I haven’t.” There was a moment of pause. Then,

“I-.... I appreciate that.” It sounded forced, almost painful, underneath the modulator. You smiled. 

“No you don’t, but I like the manners. Very good touch… Shit,” you cursed, taking your free hand to rub your face. The amount of money you were supposed to make on this job was being flushed before your very eyes. You knew yourself too well. You weren’t going to bring in this kid. “Shit shit shit shit shit,” you seethed, traveling over to the table and grasping a ring of keys. Clenching your fist around them, you pivoted, turning to fully face the Mandalorian again. He was watching you very, very intensely. His foot grazed the floor a bit, struggling against its cuff. Your jaw was set askew as you watched him. Even sitting, he was scary. It was no mystery, both from legend and from logic, what he was capable of. “How do I know you’re not going to kill me the second I take off the cuffs?” you demanded, shaking the fist with the keys in it towards him. The metal dug into your palm, grounding you a bit. 

“You don’t,” came his honest reply. The helmet made sense now. It was impossible to read him enough to be sure of anything. You shook your head, anger and fear mingling together in your throat. Biting down on your lip you moved towards him, blaster raised. You found the key, and placed it in the lock, twisting it with lightning speed before withdrawing with key still in hand. The Mandalorian broke free of the first restraint, shaking his wrist slightly as he did. You aimed your blaster with laser focus. 

“I give you the keys. You undo your own cuffs. I go away. No fucking with me. Deal?” you proffered, holding the key up for him to see. He watched you for a moment, head cocked just so to the side. 

“Deal,” he finally agreed, voice graveled even further by the modulator. You tossed the keys, moving immediately to draw your other blaster. You kept both aimed, side-stepping to get close to the kid again. One by one, Mando made quick work of the cuffs. He wasn’t sure what to make of this ‘Six’. You seemed genuine in your endeavor, but then again so much seemed hidden. He was having a very hard time telling what kind of person you were, and it wasn’t doing any favors for trusting you. Though, to be fair, he realized he had gotten himself, and the Child, in a dangerous place to begin with. Even more dangerous than usual. Once he was free, he got to his feet, discarding the keys with distaste onto Koldith’s body. 

You looked over at the child, regarding it one last time. It had been staring at you all this time, fascinated. Now that you were looking at it, it smiled a little, and its tiny hands reached up towards you. You recorrected to look at the Mandalorian just as he took a step towards you. 

“Uh, absolutely not,” you warned. “I leave the hanger, _then_ you move.” Mando stopped, slowly moving his arms until they were in the air. “Good,” you responded, taking a few steps back towards the shadow of a ship behind you. “Don’t get yourselves killed, I guess.” 

And then you were gone.

Mando immediately lunged for one of his weapons on the table, training it dexterously into the shadows. He stayed absolutely still for a moment, ears searching for the pinprick of footsteps. Nothing. The hanger was silent. Then, he heard the sound of a door open and close. And then nothing. 

Relaxing, he turned towards the table. Lucky for him, this ‘Koldith’ hadn’t decided to break anything. Mando began his very practiced routine. First the forearm armor, then the blasters, then the ammo packs, then the rifle on his back. Finally, he grabbed his knife, flipping it in his hand to feel the weight again. He gripped the hilt for a moment, anger flaring. There were few things he hated more than being vulnerable like that. It reminded him of… deeply unpleasant memories. 

He took a sharp breath through his nose, loud enough to sound on the modulator. Then he swiveled on his heel, and shoved the blade into its boot holster. His eyes were locked on the kid again. The Child stared back at him with wide, glistening eyes and a happy smile, hands reaching out. He walked forward, his cape grazing the ground as he moved. Once in front of the bassinet, he stopped for a minute. The hands reached to him. He, almost absent-mindedly, stuck his finger out towards him. The Child gripped it like a toy, holding it gratefully as he gurgled. 

“That one was too close,” he murmured to the baby, wiggling his finger slightly. The Child delighted in that, gripping tighter. _You’re delaying the inevitable,_ he thought to himself. Suddenly, the finger was gone. He let out a quiet whine, but Mando ignored it, turning away to check out the hanger again. He tapped his helmet, the tactical light flickering on to aid his quest. Suddenly, old fighter ships were visible before him. He did a quick lap around the building, growing increasingly frustrated at the apparent lack of his own ship. “Shit,” he muttered, taking a jog back over to the bassinet to retrieve it. Once it was floating alongside him, he took off in the direction where he heard the door earlier. It took a few moments, but he finally found it. It was painted a dull, chipped red. Mando did his best to ignore the telltale Stormtrooper insignia, fading with age. With a grunt, he pushed the door open, blaster at the ready. 

The hallway he entered into was bright with artificial lighting. Without his helmet on his eyes would’ve had a lot harder of a time adjusting. It seemed like a pristine, white corridor, with absolutely nothing going on. No people, no sounds. Keeping a sharp eye on the child, Mando started down the hall, looking for doors that might lead outside this place. The arrow sign hanging from the ceiling seemed a good bet. He rushed towards it, coming face to face with a black, solid door. He tried the handle. Locked.

Taking a step back, he pushed the kid into the hall, out of range. Then he took his blaster and fired three shots into the handle. The sound was jarring in the otherwise silent corridor. Mando gave the door a good, squared kick, and it flew open. Sure enough, he was met with the sizzling orange of the setting sunlight. 

The Child followed him once more as he made his way outside. It felt strange to not hear the echoing and stuffled acoustics anymore. Instead, his boots on the sand barely made any sound at all. He peered around, subconsciously touching the bassinet to make sure it was still there. No ship, at least on this side of the hanger. He knew it was here somewhere, though he was suspicious of the fact that Koldith had not moved it into the hanger. He vaguely remembered landing it, before promptly getting tased into unconsciousness on his own boarding ramp. _Shameful,_ he hissed at himself, shaking his head as he stomped off. _You’re getting sloppy…_

\------

Three of the four sides of the building later, and still no sign of the damn ship. A sinking feeling was growing in his stomach. The thought of Mando’s ship getting stolen wasn’t a new one, but it was terrifying nonetheless. Especially with a small child now trailing behind him. 

As he got to the western side of the building, he peeked around the corner, alert for possible dangers. _Nothing- wait_. He stopped dead. In the sand, about 50 feet away, was a worn down Republic Attack Gunship. Not his. He stayed frozen, looking for movement from the cover of the hanger wall. For a minute or so, there was nothing. Then a figure appeared from around the other side of the rusted ship. It was you, he could tell. 

You were in the middle of doing your takeoff routine, but you couldn’t help the anxiety creeping in your throat. You’d gotten the door outside to lock behind you, but it was a Mandalorian you were talking about. That had maybe bought you seconds, if he was coming to tie up loose ends. You had your blaster drawn. Just in case. 

Luckily you were checking the last thing. You took a quick look at the other wing, checking for anything crazy that might be out of line or damaged. You ran your free palm along the surface of the craft. She was good to go. You gave her a tap, and pressed a button on your gauntlet, backing up to let the doors open. Before you moved to hop in, you took another look behind you, gripping the blaster a bit tighter. You froze. _Is that-?_ You peered harder, trying to make out if the shine you had just seen by the hanger was real or your imagination. The wind was picking up, tossing around sand and such into the air. You brought your free hand up to your forehead to shield yourself. A piece of fabric suddenly flapped from around the corner of the hanger. It was quickly pulled back, but you had seen it for sure this time. 

You turned and made a break for it. Mando saw this and took off into a sprint too. Maybe this ‘Six’ had seen something of where his ship had gone. Maybe you’d taken it yourself. You clambered inside the ship, your breath coming in sharp and shallow as you reached for the button to close the doors. Just as you did, you felt something hard wrap around your left arm. Looking down, you saw a grapple line, the metal string digging into the meat of your arm. You reached deftly for the knife on your belt, but it was too late. You shouted in pain as you were yanked forward, kareening face first into the sand. Rolling over, you pointed your blaster upwards just as a helmeted face appeared above you. 

“STOP!” you screamed, using your legs to push you back in the sand, desperately trying to get away. “I let you go you fucking bastard-”

“Where’s my ship?” he interrupted coolly. 

“W-what?!” you asked incredulously, finding it hard to catch your breath in all the wind and sand. You coughed up a bit of said sand, sending a spit rocket to the side as you scrambled back to your feet. As you did that you heard the familiar whine of a blaster powering up. He was now pointing his own weapon back at you. “I don’t. KNOW,” you hissed at him. “A deal’s a deal Mandalorian. Is that not ‘the way’ or whatever? Let me go I owe you nothing!” 

“I just-”

“- No, you know what? YOU!” you emphasized, walking closer now, “Owe ME! So get this off of me. Now. Or I’m not saying shit anymore.” You held out your arm, gesturing with the blaster to the painful metal rope. Your eyes were alight with the fiery fury that was so typical of your reputation. The Mandalorian looked back at you, his helmet once again revealing nothing. He considered you for a moment. He wasn’t sure if he could trust you, but he also knew you’d made the right choice just now before. And you had a point. He was in your debt, technically. With a resigned movement, he reached out, and unraveled the rope from your arm. You mean-mugged him the entire time, wondering if he could see your face from this new helmet angle. After a few awkward moments, and several passive aggressive sighs from both parties, you were free. 

You took a few steps back from him, shaking out your arm. That was certainly going to bruise. 

“Okay, Mandalorian. I don’t have your ship, and I never saw it here, so.” 

“You knew my captor.” He paused for a moment, looking for the name again. “Koldith, you said?” 

You stared at him humorlessly. 

“Do you think he could be responsible for my ship going missing?” He questioned, though the question sounded much more like a demand than you appreciated. 

“Are you going to kill me?” you asked, stone faced. You felt sick. This job was full of opportunities to die. You just didn’t like the sound of ‘in front of my own ship in the middle of a shithole desert’. The Mandalorian was quiet for a minute. 

“No.” 

“Then I’m leaving. I hope I never see either of you again,” you say shakily, backing up towards the entrance to the ship with your blaster trained on him. Few people had ever left you as nervous. Men and you didn’t get along on the best of days, but this one was a new kind of deadly. 

The Mandalorian sighed, and dropped his blaster on the ground, putting his hands in the air. 

“Please. I-... I’m sorry that I _scared_ you-” 

A shot rang out. It whizzed right in between his legs, narrowly missing his crotch. He looked at you, helmet hiding his absolute bewilderment. 

“Fuck off ‘you scared me’. I’m not a child,” you snarled, your free hand making purchase with the side of the gunship. You hopped up onto the floor of it, weapon still trained at him. 

“Okay,” he started again, ever so slightly shaken. “I’m sorry for being rude, then. I don’t do… people.” This caught your attention. It seemed oddly vulnerable of him. Why was he trying to make reparations? 

“What are you trying to get from me, Mandalorian?” you questioned. There was silence for a moment. You thought about simply closing the doors and getting the fuck out of there. The Mandalorian’s helmet tilted down to the left, where the baby from before was tucked in its bassinet, staring up at you with big eyes. You chewed on the inside of your lip. 

“My ship is gone. It’s very important to me. You’re the only person with any hope of connecting me to where it’s gone.” You stared at him for a good long while, occasionally adjusting your grip on the blaster. This situation couldn’t get more unorthodox if it tried. 

“Was he with anyone, when he got you?” you asked, sighing. You couldn’t believe you were considering helping him, and yet the question had already come out of your mouth. He shifted slightly in front of you. 

“No… But he talked to someone over some kind of comm… Seela?”

“Selva,” you called back, correcting him. That was no good. Selva didn’t fuck around, and they always knew the best ways to scrap ships fast for cash. “Selva’s a scrapper who sometimes worked with Koldith. They’re a damn good one, too.” Though there was no way to tell, you imagined this was disappointing news. He looked down for a moment, thinking. 

“Do you know where they would take something like my ship? It’s an old gunship. Like yours,” he inquired. You set your jaw askew. You knew of one or two planets that were likely candidates, but telling him about it? 

“And what’s in it for me if I do?” you wondered aloud. “You’re not off to a great start, trust-wise.” 

“I know that. I can provide you with money? A weapon?” You considered this for a moment.

“I’m assuming the money and weapons are on the ship?”

“Yes.” 

“Great.”

“I have to keep the kid safe. None of the ships in the hangar have hyperdrive. They’re all fighters. It’ll take too long on my own.” He explained it levelly but you knew desperation when you saw it. This world was desolate- an abandoned Imperial base world whose original inhabitants were long decimated. There were no other people to help him, and you both knew it. You took a long look at the kid. He was so very small and delicate. His little fingers were grabbing the edge of the bassinet as he cooed. You closed your eyes for a moment, feeling physical pain at the fact that you were feeling sorry for them. Slowly, your gun arm came down. 

“I swear to you. If you try ANYTHING. I will fight hard. I don’t know if I can beat you but I’ll try and I’m a good shot. Do you understand?” you asked, voice hard and strained. This was against everything you do. Every rule and protocol you’d ever made for yourself was gone. Completely new territory. 

“Yes,” he responded hoarsely. You gave him one last look, the reflection of the sun glaring back off his helmet. 

“Fine. Fine. Yeah okay, get on. Quickly,” you muttered, holstering your blaster. You left the thumb brake undone for quick access. The Mandalorian quickly grabbed his weapon, holstering it, and walked the few feet to the ship’s entrance. The Child floated slowly behind him. 

You got to work, never quite taking your eye off him as he boarded. 

“Go up there. Don’t touch anything.” You didn’t look away as he began following instructions and heading to the cockpit. It was easy to zip through the last little retightening and checking of loose items. Mando sat down obediently in the passenger’s seat, pulling the crib so it was close to his hip. He stuck his finger towards the kid, inviting him to play with it in a practiced manner. It seemed an almost automatic gesture. 

You hit the button to close the doors on your way up to your seat, the hiss and grind of metal in your ears. As you sat, you eyed him again. His helmet was directed straight at you, unwavering. 

“I’m taking off. Stay in your seat.” 

“Where are we going,” he retorted.

“You’ll find out.” You turned away, adjusting the strap on your glove. With that you fired up, and took off into the sky. Him knowing where you were going now meant giving him power, and you weren’t fond of that idea quite yet. 

You broke out into the stars again, the only sounds the clicks and snaps of buttons and switches. Coordinates were set, and the ship lurched gently as it picked up speed. 

“Hold onto that baby,” you mentioned, as you punched it into hyperdrive. The transition was smooth for how much this ship had been through. It’d been pulled apart and put back together again more than once. You gave her a quick pat and a small hum, eyes fixed on the brilliant blues and blacks that swirled before you. Nothing quite like hyperdrive. “First possibility’s not very far. Maybe an hour or two until we hit the brakes.” 

You leaned in your chair, your head resting back. Your hand wandered down to plant at your holster. It’d been a long day, but you weren’t falling asleep until he was off your ship and on his way. No sleeping around other people. At least those who hadn’t gone through your rather… strict screening process. 

For about an hour of the journey, things were simple. You stared out into the vastness of space, and he remained relatively motionless, not saying a word. The silence was nice. It allowed you to cool down from what you had thought was going to be a near-death experience earlier. Your arm was still sore from that grapple. You rubbed it with your other hand absent-mindedly, eyes trained on the streaks of space. That’s when you felt it. 

It was very subtle at first. It felt like the muscle of your hurt arm just wanted to go slightly left. You looked down at it, furrowing your brow. Suddenly, it began moving slowly but firmly against your will, being pulled towards the left side of the ship. Towards the Mandalorian.

“What the _FUCK_?!” you exclaimed, grabbing your arm with your other hand some sort of attempt to regain control. The Mandalorian tensed, snapping attention to you. He took in your situation for a second, before turning to look at the Child. You looked too, and felt a cold chill as you saw the little extended green hand. The baby had its eyes shut, but it seemed to be summoning you somehow against your will. 

“Hey, stop that,” he barked at the Child. It didn’t seem to listen, and with a sharp exclamation you were yanked from your seat and onto the ground in front of the bassinet. You reached for your blaster. By the time your palm made contact with your holster, there was harsh, cold metal pressed to your temple. “Don’t,” he warned.

“What do you mean, DON’T?! What is this?!” As you turned to figure out how to fight this guy off, the baby gripped onto your hurt arm. You hissed a bit, looking back over. It was definitely sprained or bruised or something. “Get off m-” 

The arm was starting to feel better. It was like a warm bath slowly washing over your muscles and spreading through your body. You blinked a few times, readjusting to this brand new sensation. After a few seconds, the feeling passed. The baby let go, and teetered backwards into his blankets, spent. You simply sat on the floor for a few seconds, absolutely dumbstruck. 

When you remembered how to breathe you grabbed the edge of your sleeve and yanked it upwards. All signs of bruising and marking from the metal were gone. 

“It… He… healed me?” you pushed out the words, looking back up to the Mandalorian, who still had a blaster trained on your head. He regarded you. 

“Are you going to hurt him?” he asked. 

“No.” Your reply was immediate and definite. You’d done a lot of fucked up shit in your life, but kids were a harsh line for you. The certainty of your response seemed to relax him, and he hesitantly brought the weapon off your skin. You got to your feet, stumbling a bit. The Mandalorian looked down to the Child, bringing the blankets around him properly so he could sleep. A small, almost imperceivable touch of his ear. Then he looked back at you. 

You were staring. Like really, properly gawking. You could’ve sworn you heard a tinge of amusement as he declared, 

“He’s got powers.” 

“Yeah, no shit,” you retorted, leaning against the wall behind you. You crossed your arms, looking briefly down at the one that had just been healed. “I can see why moving fast is important to you.” He said nothing, readjusting himself in the chair so he was back in a more comfortable position. You climbed back to your seat, plopping into it with a huff. The remainder of hyperdrive was done in silence.


	2. Three's A Crowd... Or Maybe Not

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's queer.... It's very queer. But like what were you expecting tbh? You *fuck*... like a lot. Like your game is legendary, my friend. Let's get mischievous... and polyamorous... Enjoyyyyy~~~ ((no smut.......................... yet))

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I write this instead of doing all the work I need to do this week? Yes. Do I regret it? No.

About an hour or two later, you hit the brakes, your body rattled a bit by the deceleration. From behind you, the baby shifted a bit, making a small trilling sound in his sleep. 

“This is Cron. You know it?” you questioned, cracking your neck. You felt the presence of him arrive beside you, leaning forward a bit to check out the new moon in front of you. His hand was resting on the top of your chair as he peered outwards. The encroachment on your space made you slightly nervous. You bounced your leg below the console, hoping to blow off some of the steam. 

“No,” he admitted after taking a look. 

“Lucky you didn’t kill me then,” you replied, side-eyeing him as the helmet turned to regard you. There was a little bit of a smile ghosting your expression. Just a bit. “This isn’t a great place for kids. I’d say it might be better to leave him on the ship, but-” 

“He stays with me,” came his blunt retort. You put your hands up in a relaxed surrender, and then gripped the controls.

“Buckle up then.” 

He moved back to his seat as you began your descent towards Cron. The moon was small, dry, and red-tinted. Some settlements, which looked like little bugs at this altitude, came into view as the ship broke the atmosphere. She rattled a bit at the stress, but pushed on. Your mind was on a specific location: a small port at the edge of a bigger hub. With a bit of flourish, you clicked the comms on and tuned the channel. 

“This is Six requesting a landing at Port Kiss My Ass, do you copy?” 

There was silence for a second. Then the crackling of someone coming on comms.

“Request granted. Can’t believe your sorry ass is still alive.” The familiar, silky voice was an immediate comfort. You couldn’t help your pursed smile. 

“Fuck off, Jax,” you half-laughed, turning off the comms again. The ship dropped lower, heading towards an unkempt, hexagon-like landing structure. It hovered about 100 feet off the ground, well above those who might want to scrap something like this ship. You never landed anywhere else on this world. 

“Who-”

“I’m parking. Quiet,” you interjected, maintaining focus on decelerating and hitting the target. A small figure grew larger and larger in the corner of the landing platform, waving a crisp blue flag in greeting. After a moment, there was a satisfying  _ ca-chunk  _ of your landing gear plopping gracefully onto the surface below. You began powering down, throwing the Mandalorian a glance. “Okay what?”

“Who is this Jax person?” he demanded, slightly more exasperated. After a moment, the ship breathed a sigh, and completely shut off. You swiveled in your chair to face him. 

“She’s the only person we can trust here. I know you’re wearing your cool mystery helmet but look me in the eyes regardless,” you demanded. The helmet, which was already facing you, centered just enough to make you think he might have been doing so. “This place is a breeding ground for thieves and scrappers. No one here will hesitate. Except her,” you explained sternly, throwing a thumb over your shoulder towards where Jax had been hanging out on the landing platform. After a second, you smiled a bit to yourself and scrunched your nose. “Well, except her when I tell her to play nice. Which I will, only if you promise to too.” You were pleasant, but your eyes spoke otherwise. There would be no fucking around with Jax. Mando nodded in understanding. You clapped your hands together, relieving tension. “Perfect! Let’s go.” 

As the doors to the ship slid open, a familiar face was already beaming up at you. You grinned back, but took note of the slight drop in hers as she caught sight of the Mandalorian. You leapt off the ship and into her arms. Her laughter resounded against your chest, and she spun you around once before letting you down. The two of you held each others’ forearms for a moment, taking each other in. 

She was as glorious as ever. She stood quite tall and broad, her lavender-toned skin peeking over the chest piece of familiar white armour. It was an assortment of repurposed Stormtrooper plates, underneath which she wore tactical wear in browns and blacks. She was well-armed and carried a familiar blade on her back, which she pulled away from you to readjust. Dark brown eyes caught yours in a narrowed, questioning look.

“This is…” you stopped, trailing off as you turned to look at the Mandalorian. You had no clue who this was. He stared back at you, offering no help. As usual. You gave him a  _ ‘really?’  _ face and turned back to Jax. “This is someone who needs my help. Two someones, actually,” you corrected, to which Jax peered past you at the bassinet. 

“Not like you to bring such precious cargo here,” she breathed, staring deeply at the Child with a sense of wonder. 

“We had no choice. Idiot got his ship stolen.” The Mandalorian put his hands on his hips. You snorted, looking back at him. “You owed me that one for the grapple earlier,” you pointed out. He just stood there.  _ So. Boring.  _

“But you’re here, which means you need  _ my  _ help,” Jax concluded for you, her gaze now back in your direction. You nodded in agreement. She regarded the full party for a moment. She sized up the Mandalorian for a long while. “Is he going to act up?” she asked. 

“I’ve asked him to behave. And I said that you would too. Can I count on that?” you questioned, eyebrows raised. Jax laughed a bit, the ornate, black tattoo design across her nose scrunching as she did. 

“I suppose I deserve that scrutiny,” she admitted amusedly. “Mandalorian, you have my absolute word that I will do whatever Six requests,” she announced, turning to extend her arm towards him. He stepped forward, grasping it. 

“I will…  _ behave _ accordingly,” he responded. A new emotion from him: sass. You appreciated it by giving Jax a quick look. She tried not to smile. 

“Come inside. Let’s talk about this in comfort.”

The place she ushered you all to was a small building that pushed up from the edge of the landing platform. It was made primarily of big tinted windows, to make visibility easy from inside while maintaining anonymity from the outside. An important part of Jax’s job, usually. With the types of people who showed up here, her identity was often better kept as a secret. 

The inside was run down, but comfortable. The wall of windows had a large control panel in front of it, and several swiveling chairs. One of them was askew from when Jax had gotten out of it to meet you. She returned to it now, resting her knee on it as she selected a few switches on the board. On the wall to your left, the only thing of prominence was a bloodied Stormtrooper helmet, which hung from a hook like a hunting trophy. You smiled to yourself. Towards the back of the room was a long, black cushioned seat that ran across most of the back wall, and hinged at a 90 degree angle to frame a bit of the right wall as well. It accompanied a small table at the right corner, on which rested a bowl of colourful fruits. 

“Mind if I?” you asked, gesturing to the bowl. Jax threw a look over her shoulder, and then waved her hand at you.

“Help yourself!”

You strode over to the bowl, picking out a lovely red one to bite into. The taste that flooded your mouth was sweet and refreshing. It’d been a while since you last ate, so your body perked up at the sign of food. With a sigh of comfort, you plopped onto a part of the seat, wiping your mouth with the back of your sleeve. The Mandalorian stood a few feet away, hesitant. You hardened your gaze, nodding in reassurance, and gestured for him to sit. He strode over and took a rigid seat a few feet from you. The bassinet followed, and the baby- still sound asleep- didn’t move.

Meanwhile, Jax had begun the process of battening down the hatches. With a low rumble, the sides of the building and platform began to be enveloped by a grey, smoothed metal. Beside you, the Mandalorian shifted, but you put a hand out towards him, shaking your head. 

“Trust me,” you muttered. Your eyes stared directly into the visor, unwavering. He stayed alert, but didn’t move further. The visor didn’t look away from your face, even as you looked away yourself. The blossoming dome continued to push upwards into the sky, until it began to slope, meeting in the middle. It finished with a short but firm rattling of locked joints. The room was much darker now, as all light from the outside world was shut out. Jax turned, her outline walking towards you both in the now-dim light. A few feet before the side table, she reached out to the wall. Reddish-hued lights flickered on, accompanied by some brighter, whiter light. All was clear again. 

“I assume you recognize Beskar when you see it, Mandalorian,” came Jax’s voice as she sat beside you on the couch. She was referring to the dome that now covered the entire location. 

“How is that possible?” he demanded, the visor drilling holes into Jax’s skull. Jax seemed, as usual, unphased. She leaned back in her spot, her arms coming to relax behind her head. 

“This has been a station for longer than any of us have been alive. I have no idea why or how the Beskar was forged to protect this place. All I know is I inherited this from my predecessors, and I keep it, and the people I choose, safe while they’re on this world.”

“Rumour is this place took on Empire,” you chimed in mischievously, taking another crunch out of your fruit. 

“It’s true,” Jax retorted, giving you a look. “I saw it with my own eyes. I was only a child, but this place is the reason I’m alive to tell tale of it.” The Mandalorian was, as usual, unreadable, but seemed to be mulling it over. He took a moment, looking over to the kid again. Still asleep. Then he turned back over to the two of you. 

“Beskar belongs with my people,” he began, though both of you immediately detected the unsurity. You couldn’t help your short laugh, which was made sillier by the food still in your mouth. There was a quick swallow before you replied,

“Yeah let me know when you figure out how to melt down a Deathstar’s weight in Beskar.” 

“You’re right,” he admitted, the helmet tilting to catch a good look at the dome out the front windows. His honesty surprised you. Jax turned to you, her hair falling gently over her shoulder. 

“So what’s going on?” 

You set off into your story. It took a bit of explaining. But by the end, Jax was aglow with interest, trying not to find your ass getting kicked as funny as it was. It didn’t slip past your notice. 

“So basically, his ship was stolen. We think Koldith was working with Selva, who probably screwed him halfway through to scrap the gunship. That would explain why both ships would’ve been gone by the time I got there,” you finished. Jax mulled this over. 

“Selva’s not good news for you,” she pointed out, lifting a finger to gesture in the Mandalorian’s direction. He tilted the helmet towards her more.

“So I’ve been told.” 

A slight grin washed over Jax’s features. It made her look… distantly  _ hungry _ . Like a predator that had just caught the far-off whiff of something delicious. Then she slapped her palms onto her thighs, and burst up to her feet. 

“Give me an hour to radio some contacts. Then we’ll get down to business.” Her eyes were locked on yours. The intensity of her gaze washed over your face and sent a small shudder down your shoulders and back. She was always brilliant, but when she was hunting? It changed her. Not a lot. Just enough to add the little bit of extra spitfire it took to make her blinding. You breathed in just a little sharper through your nose. She caught it. You could tell because, as she turned away towards the console, her mouth twitched upwards just a tick. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Jax’s mini fortress used to house small hit teams, so it contained several small barracks, tucked on the other side of the wall from the lounge area. She had ushered you all off towards them, to ‘get out of her hair’. Probably because the Mandalorian had been hovering about ten feet back, staring ominously in her general direction. But also maybe because the tension that had started a bit ago between the two of you had not left the room. 

Now you were sitting on a small cot, over an hour and a half later, bouncing your leg. The wall next to you separated you from the other bounty hunter, who made no sounds at all. The infant made none either. Must have still been asleep. 

Not that that was any of your concern. 

The last time you had seen Selva was several years ago, on this very moon. A Twi’lek with silvery-blue skin. They had been assigned as your rendezvous partner on a… seedier mission. Murder and theivery. Required two experts in their fields. Selva had done the taking. You had done the killing. 

You let your eyes fall shut for a moment, the sound of blaster fire and the hard shrieks of metal on metal filling the room. Selva wasn’t as much of a fighter as they were a shadow, of sorts. No matter how close they were to getting hit or caught, things always just seemed to miss. You had no such luck melting into the background. Brash and bold since the day you were born. 

We all have our strengths. 

Squeezing your eyes tighter, you tried to reach further back into your memories. Your breath came in deep, cooling your chest and throat. Meditation wasn’t something you did often enough anymore, but you still knew the technique. With every out breath, you imagined yourself sifting deeper into the memory of the bounty mission. Your awareness stretched out like gentle roots, tapping into moments like they were pockets of moisture. Images flashed by- a gun, Selva’s hands beckoning you, the dead guard getting dragged by the nape of their costume. You couldn’t for the life of you remember what you had been there for. It hadn’t been a live target. An object or weapon maybe? You remembered a foot long, dark box. 

Your eyes flashed open. Both because you had remembered something crucial, and because you could feel the sudden presence of someone in the opening to the hall. Your head ticked to the side, making out the lavender complexion as your eyes adjusted back to the light. 

“Need to borrow you for a few minutes,” Jax said, voice low. Her posture was broader. More prepared. You could tell she was getting somewhere, and fast. Without hesitation you pushed to your feet.

“‘Course.”

The two of you ventured back out towards the panel at the front of the control hub. 

“Selva’s not here,” she said bluntly, once you had reached her chair. Your eyes shot to meet hers, which were already firmly fixed on you. 

“Fuck,” you hissed, crossing your arms over your chest. 

“So quick to write me off,” she replied with a huff, leaning down to the panel to press a few buttons. A map blinked to life, hovering in front of you both in blue holographics. You leaned in a bit, focusing your eyes to make sense of what you were looking at.  _ Was that-? _

“They’re still in space?!” you asked incredulously, eyes narrowing further as you checked out the details of the image. Jax shifted her weight behind you, allowing you more room to look. 

“I had to cash in more than one favor for this information,” she pointed out. Her tone had humour in it. You both knew damn well that mattered little to her. 

The map showed a sizable blip. It was hovering out in the booneys. Well, you were out in the booneys now. But this was taking Outer Rim to a new level. The more you stared, the more you started to get a twisted feeling in your gut.

“Why are-”

“-they in a ship so large?” she finished for you. “No clue. Maybe a moving trade depot for scrap ships? Maybe something worse. I know one thing though,” she continued. You tore your gaze from the hologram to look at her. 

“Hmm?”

“This is a lot of trouble to go to for one  _ m a n, _ -” You were already rolling your eyes deep into the back of your head. “ **_Especially_ ** a dangerous one who tried to make you eat sand earlier-” You interrupted her with your quiet laughter.

“He didn’t try, Jax. He  _ did _ .” She stared at you for a moment, pressing her lips together to avoid busting up. Your nose crinkled up a bit as you tried not to laugh too loud. You leaned a bit closer to her, playfully. “I’m still crunching grains in my teeth,” you whispered. She slowly started to wheeze, shaking her head and then leaning it until her forehead was resting on your shoulder. Her continued laughter buzzed off her skull and into your bones, making your whole body feel electrified. Without really thinking about it, you had let your head drop a bit, until it rested lightly against hers. Her hair was soft against your cheek. You closed your eyes and sighed. 

“But you’re right,” you continued. “I need to stop picking up strays.” Jax had stopped laughing by now. Just her light breath against your collarbone. Still leaning into you. 

“Why this one?” she questioned softly. You sniffed, squeezing your eyes a bit tighter shut.  _ Why?  _ Such a good question. You never seemed to know the full answer. 

“The kid,” you murmured, softening your face again. “No food, water, or help. No habitable locations anywhere nearby without hyperdrive. I… I couldn’t turn away. Not after last time.” The last bit had stuck to the back of your throat a little, like it didn’t want to come out. Jax lifted off of you, eyes slightly averted as she conjured her speech. 

“How many times do I-” 

You raised your hand up for her to stop, holding your breath for a minute. She looked at your face again, eyes a little darker. It pushed you into exhaling, breathing out:

“Please.” 

The word settled into the space like dust. Tightening the airways. Itchy. Shifting. She chewed the inside of her cheek, before turning away to the hologram again. 

“This is a big ship, Six,” she said after a while. “You need at least another set of hands.” Your eyebrows raised as you leaned your hip up against the lip of the panel. 

“And who would those hands belong to?” 

“You know who.” The statement was simple. Matter of fact. She stared at the hologram a bit longer, the azure hues dancing beautifully across her face. Rippling off of her tattoo. The black geometric diamond patterning along her nose and cheeks had always fascinated you. Your hand itched to reach out and touch. You clenched it into a fist at your side instead. 

“Are you sure, Jax? I know what it means when you have to leave this place behind,” you countered. It wasn’t antagonistic. She knew that. It was just true. And she had sat with it for a minute, her fingers rapping softly against the metal below her hand. Eyes on the blip. Then she straightened up, rubbing her palms together as she turned back to you.

“Been a while. Maybe I can find a few new scraps of my own.” The glow was back in her expression. The blood riling back up. The energy vibrated back out towards you. “Plus, that fucker Selva deserves to pay you back for the bullshit from last time.” 

The words snap the memory from earlier right back to you. You reach a hand out in indication.

“Yes! Oh my stars, I was going to tell you about that. I remembered right when you walked in earlier. They totally fucked me over on that trip!”

“Yeah, what’s with you getting beaten, Six? Bad for your murdering, gunslinging reputation,” she teased, mouth inching towards a smile.

“Shut up.” -said with a grin- “They got me with something…  _ weird _ . Don’t you remember me telling you? Some kind of pinch in the back of my shoulder, right when we got back in that little tin can ship to run…” She nodded after a moment of you speaking, the memory coming back.

“You knocked out and woke back up on a world in a whole different part of the galaxy. No way to get back in contact, no way to find that guy who hired you, either.” You shook your head, your jaw askew in annoyance. 

“I lost a lot of credits on that stupid trip… And for a  _ box _ , no less,” you grumbled, scuffing the toe of your boot on the floor. 

“You can’t take Selva lightly.” Jax’s face was serious again. You didn’t like it when she was serious. Joy was when she was at her strongest. Joy, and bloodthirst. Bloodthirst made her powerful, too. You reached out, grabbing her forearm gently in your gloved hand. She stepped forward a bit, a practiced movement. The two of you hovered there, for a minute. A foot or so from each other. Maybe less. 

Static electricity. 

“Come with me then. Show them who’s the meanest bitch in the whole galaxy,” you invited, voice quiet to mirror the closeness. Her forearm, still in your grasp, shifted a bit as her hand held onto yours in turn. It wouldn’t have taken any energy at all to close the space the rest of the way. And doing so would’ve been an action far away from foreign for the two of you. Her thumb ran along your veins, slowly. Fingers beginning to pull just a bit on your skin…

Someone else was in the room. The skin on your neck pricked with a different kind of adrenaline. You pushed away from her, just enough to stare out into the dim, reddish light of the rest of the room. Sleek, grey armor reflected back to you, dulled by the bloody hues. A small sigh rushed through you. Not relieved, but at least not in immediate danger. You and the other bounty hunter spoke in unison-

“Stars, why are you just in the corner like that?”

“You weren’t in your room, so I came to check.”

You stared dumbly out at the Mandalorian, who just stood there right back. It was quiet for way too long. He seemed to take up so much of the air just by being in the room. It was unsettling. And you also got the sense, somehow… that he wasn’t even  _ embarrassed _ . Then Jax tapped the panel again. 

“Found your culprit, Mandalorian,” she announced, voice loud and rich again. Domineering. He immediately started forward towards the two of you. You turned away from him to watch Jax speak. “Some sort of larger ship, out here,” she explained, hand gesturing to the larger location in the Outer Rim. 

“Don’t have long. Who knows how quickly they’ll get to taking apart your ship. Or how quickly whatever this thing is will leave,” you pointed out. He was directly between the two of you, black visor aglow in the light of the map. You peeked a bit more closely, trying to see if the light revealed anything at all inside the helmet.

Nothing but empty void.

“Big ship,” he muttered. Jax nodded in agreement, walking away from the panel to begin collecting things from a drawer further away. 

“Exactly, which is why I’m coming.” The Mandalorian straightened up, shoulders back. He maybe hadn’t been expecting that, you deduced. He didn’t say anything. “And we’re leaving,” she continued, pulling out various weapons and extra gadgets to shove into free pockets, “now.” 

“Jax-” you began, gawking.

“You want your ship back, Mando?” She ran right over your voice, turning around as a small blaster was tucked into its place on her person. 

“Obviously,” crackled through the modulator. The snark, again. Jax splayed her arms out forward in a comically large, presentational manner towards him, eyes moving to look at you. 

“See?! Listen, I know this is a Mandalorian. But even he knows that whatever  _ that _ is, ‘aint a one-person task. Doesn’t matter how many targets you hit how fast if there’s too many to keep track of,” she pointed out, like all of this was the simplest little issue in the world. She was walking towards you again, shoulders relaxed. Head high. Brilliant and fierce and true to her own nature. “Plus,” she added, now a few feet from you, “my… decorations… show off just a bit of what I’m capable of.” Her gaze was on him again. She was, of course, referring to the Stormtrooper helmet, hanging gracefully from the wall. The visor swiveled to regard it a second time, briefly. The stains were almost invisible in the redder light. Almost. “Not to mention how fast they tracked your happy ass down earlier,” she huffed, sticking her thumb out in your direction as she settled in beside you. “You got lucky, Mando. They want to help. Help you and your kid… And if they want to help, then I’m in. That work for you?” 

Silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The ship whined to life again. Jax was sitting beside you in the passenger’s spot. In the corner of your vision, you could see the other two seats. One of them hosted the Mandalorian, who you could feel was looking at the side of your head. The white cot was hovering beside him. Not a peep from the kid. 

For the past twenty minutes, as you had all gotten ready to depart, you had talked strategy. For the first time ever, you had really gotten to see him work. At least in a theoretical capacity. He was wickedly intelligent, and obviously very experienced. It was a small comfort to you that he had also seen the two of you work as well. Hopefully it had earned you both some extra points. Though it bothered you that you were even thinking of that. You shouldn’t have to prove yourself worthy of anybody’s favor. But he rattled you.

Jax fed you coordinates, and you took off without another word. 

Once hyperspace had been achieved, you checked over everything again. 

“We’ve got three hours. Jax, can you take over?” She looked at you with a questionable expression, but you were already up and out of your seat. Behind you, you heard her shuffle to take the other seat. Your eyes were now locked on the helmet in front of you. He was, as always, looking right where the action was. “I need to talk to you. Follow me.” You didn’t leave much room for conversation. Figured speaking his language might help make things a little easier. As you left the cockpit for the cabin, you heard the light sound of metal scraping off the chair. The door shut behind him. 

For a moment, you were quiet, facing away from him. You weren’t sure how you wanted to phrase this. How much to give away. This whole thing was fucking crazy, and the more seconds you spent thinking about it the more you realized you and someone you cared about very deeply were headed towards stars knows what on a whim for this random fucking dude who tried to kill you earlier-

“Thank you.” 

It caught you completely off guard.  _ How does he keep doing that? _ You pivoted on your heel. He stood there, just as he always looked. So stagnant… but not. You hadn’t quite cracked it yet, but there was something dynamic about him. Some way to tap into a brief amount of what was happening under all the coverage. You squinted a little. 

“Are you going to hurt us?” you asked suddenly and bluntly.  _ Well, that’s one way to put it, I guess.  _ The helmet stayed, unwavering. The shoulders stayed pressed back, the posture was still lackadaisical but powerful. You yourself didn’t cower or withdraw. You used to… long time ago. But not anymore. Now you stared right back, jaw set, eyes betraying nothing but the question. 

Something was building in the cabin. A feeling, or sensation. Thickening the air a bit. Making your skin crawl. You searched for it as you regarded him. What was that? That vibrating? 

_ Electricity? _

“No.” It came clear, low, and confident through the modulator. 

You stood there a minute longer, really feeling out the space you two had just created. Holding it. Controlling it? Then you simply nodded a bit, walking forward towards him. As you did, you noticed it. It was soooo small, it was almost impossible to tell if it was real. But you knew it was. 

He had twitched. 

You started to pass by him, shoulders a few inches from each other. The power you were feeling rushed in fast and hot, like pure fire and serotonin all at once. It was the same feeling that, just for a second, you had felt when you realized he had been watching you and Jax earlier. Before you could think better of it, you paused. Profile to profile, facing different directions, neither one of you looking at the other. 

“Oh, and next time you want to  _ watch _ ,” you hear yourself say quietly by where his ear must be, “ask first.” 

And then you’re gone, the cockpit door sliding closed behind you. 


	3. Well That Wasn't The Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ((Hey all! There’s porn in this one :}. I wrote Six as ambiguously as possible during the sex, to make it relatable to both AFAB and AMAB readers. In the future, I may switch between ambiguous, AFAB, and AMAB, just to be able to be more detailed and give more varied content. No matter what, they will still remain nonbinary in all other regards. If I do switch between, I will warn every time at the start of the chapter, so you know beforehand going in! This was a blast to write and I hope you enjoy it! As usual, I love feedback, so feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what you thought! Byeee!))

“I’m telling you, his name was Gren-”

“No, no, **no!** ” Jax interjected, shaking her head. “Gren was the guy from Tatooine, and he wasn’t even a singer.” You lifted a finger to point at her from your seat, spinning your chair a bit in her direction. The bright blues and pinks of hyperspace flickered in the corner of your view. 

“Fuck, you’re _right_!”

“Man, what was that fucker’s name… Do you even remember where he was from?” 

You sat there for a moment, squeezing your eyes extra tight. _What did the bar look like? Why were you even there in the first place?_

“We’d just finished up a gig,” you began, working your thought process out loud. “So we must have needed refuel and supplies… I remember it was really, really crowded. Gods, so many people were there-”

“Wait, I’m remembering now. I think it started with an ‘M’.... Mondra? Marta?-”

“Manda.”

The third voice surprised both of you, heads swiveling to check out the person in the back of the cockpit. The one who hadn’t made a peep in four hours. Ever since… well. Since your _conversation_. 

For a moment, you let the tension of looking at him again hit you. It froze you in place, the ghost of a smile on your face while you tried not to think about what you had said earlier. Then you snapped your fingers, cutting the tether between you as you turned back to Jax.

“Holy shit, yes! The merchant cities were insanity! Felt fantastic. Sea of people, always around. A crowd you could actually get lost in. I felt like I could actually breathe for the first time in months.” It sent a chill down your spine. That was ages ago. Though it made you giddy to think about the feeling, you hadn’t felt safe in a long, long time. Came with getting good at your job. 

“Mmm,” hummed Jax. “And it was that bar, then. The one in Manda. He sang that set with the band that blew us away-”

“- _yes_ , it was magical. Best voice I’ve ever heard.” 

“Man, what was his name?”

“Remember that cover of Solar Flare he did?”

“Oh shut the fuck- _yes_ I remember that! Religious…” 

You laughed at the both of you and how crazy you must’ve sounded. What else was there for you to do, though? You’d spent the first three and a half hours in relative silence. Mando could suffer witnessing a bit of human connection. And he _had_ interjected earlier. Perhaps he wasn’t entirely annoyed by your having-of-fun in his presence. 

Your eyes scanned the console, which now had a blue light blinking up at you. 

“Hey we’re one minute out, everyone,” you announced. “Coordinates are gonna set us down right out of radar range so we can get a good look.” Beside you, you caught a glimpse of Jax shifting to sit a little straighter in her chair. A suspension began to settle in the air of the cockpit. It bothered you. Getting in your head threw you off your game, and that was the last thing you needed.

You cleared your throat, breaking into the anticipation.

“Something’s got a hold on me. Ohhh I gotta leave. How oh how could I have never knooooooown?!” You were leaning back in your chair, holding your fist up as if it were a mic, singing. It wasn’t with the intent to sound good. It was the kind of singing you did drunk in bars with your friends. A reminder of past times… Maybe better times. Jax was already laughing, turning the chair to face you. The two of you took a breath at the same time, big grins on your faces.

“YOUUUU AAAAARE A SOLAR FLARE! BRIGHTEST LIGHT PAST THE ATMOSPHERE!” you both sang, and you pointed the mic to Jax to take the solo. Behind her, Mando had his helmet in his hands, leaned over his seat. _Drama queen…_

“And I KNOW you’re gonna burn my heart awaaaayyyy,” Jax sang, pointing back to you again. 

“BAAAAAABAAAAAAY!” you belted, right as the brakes hit and you slammed out of hyperspace. Your eyes were screwed tight. You were _feeling_ it. Once the initial jolt was over, you rose to your feet with comedic grandeur, arms gesturing wide. “Just a FLOAATING rock in SPAAACEEE, I KNOW-!”

“ **_-SIX!_ **”

The sound of Jax’s voice made the song die and wither in the back of your throat. It was grave. Panicked. Your eyes shot open again. The first thing they caught was the Mandalorian, fully standing and moving to look through the windshield of the cockpit. You swiveled on heel, and felt the remainder of the breath leave your lungs. Your skin, previously buzzing with excitement, was covered in goosebumps. You darted forward past your seat to lean as close as you could to the front. It was silent. The horrible feeling of your gut, sinking lower and lower in your stomach, pulled from your lips:

“Oh, Gods…” 

The other ship, thankfully a sharp distance away from you, was unmistakable. Everyone in the galaxy knew that ship when they saw it. 

“A fucking _light cruiser_?” you whispered, the sound of its name chilling your blood. 

“Six, we _cannot-_ ”

“I know who that ship belongs to,” Mando’s darkened voice shot over Jax’s. He was standing right next to you, hands balled into fists at his sides as he seemed to glower out at it. 

“How can you know that?” you questioned, turning fully to face him. Mando didn’t break sight with the craft, avoiding you. Heat began to rise on your face. “ _How can you know that,_ **_Mandalorian_ ** _,”_ you demanded again, more severely. 

“Because he’s the one after the kid,” he responded shortly, the helmet finally tearing away from the view to look directly at you. You could tell he was pushing his shoulders back to make himself look bigger. But your initial nervousness over his reputation was wearing off. Fast. You stared right back, face stone. 

“We don’t have time, Six. We are _not_ prepared for this. We’ve gotta get out of here.” The two of you turned to look at Jax, who looked like a different person. Her face was filled with fear and anger, eyes wild. “ **_NOW._ **” 

“He has my ship, I cannot let him get away with this,” the helmet hissed, directing itself back at the view. 

“If we don’t leave now, we’re all dead and the baby is lost forever,” Jax insisted, rising to her feet to get close to the Mandalorian. She snapped her fingers right in front of his visor, distracting his attention. “I’ve taken a light cruiser before. Years ago.” Her voice was softer now, but steely. “We started with fifty on our squadron and we ended with _five_. I don’t give a shit who you are, this wont work. We’ll get demolished.”

He hesitated. You and Jax both watched him, still as he was. Like a foreboding statue guarding the line between attack and retreat. 

“You’ve changed this ship, right? The cockpit isn’t meant to be this spacious.”

You stood there, dumbfounded.

“Yes. I had the nose and cockpit of the ship widened for multiple passengers to sit up front instead of two cockpit windows one behind the other. Why?” 

“It makes the ship less balanced,” he replied. 

“Yes but I had the mechanics make up for that by using a lighter metal on the revamp and getting rid of the gunner pods on the front of the ship. Now they’re just on the wings. The adjustment equalized the weight distribution to its original ratio. Well, mostly.” 

“Mostly,” he repeated lowly. You dug your nails into your palm. The longer you stayed here the longer- 

You and the Mandalorian both moved at once for the pilot seat. Out in the distance, you had both just spotted the telltale movement of a small compartment opening. 

They were about to deploy something. 

The Mandalorian got there first, sitting in it heavily as you reached out your hand to grab his arm. His other hand came to grab yours, gripping it so tightly you thought the leather might tear your skin open.

“If we go while they’re open we can get them,” he practically growled through the modulator.

“If we go now you will give this guy exactly what he wants!” Jax yelled from behind you. He shook his helmet aggressively, as though trying to bat away the thought.

“Gideon has my ship. Everything I own! My whole life-”

You squatted down in front of him. Completely on instinct. Your hands shot out to grab the sides of his helmet. He went to stop you, but hesitated when you simply left your palms on the metal. The gesture mimicked what it would be like to grip his face in your hands. His own gloved fingers wrapped dangerously tight around your wrists, deciding whether to pull you off or not.

“Listen to me,” you demanded, shaking the helmet a bit for good measure. “Do you want to save his life?” You turned your head to view the sleeping figure nestled in his blankets. As if on cue, in the dead silence of the point, the baby purred. A soft little coo. Your attention returned to Mando. “What will this Gideon not do to get that kid?” 

The Mandalorian was quiet. Still and quiet. Your eyes flicked over to look out the front of the cockpit. Something was on its way out, though you couldn’t quite tell what. You had to get out of there. 

“WHAT WILL HE NOT DO TO GET THAT KID?!” you repeated severely, nostrils flaring. 

“Nothing,” he spat.

“NOTHING.” You let that sit for a second, your eyes caught in his visor as though you were looking directly into his own. “Nothing. Please, I know how hard this is, but there’s a better way. He won't get away with this. But we have to _live_ , Mando.” 

Everything went on hold. You were holding your breath. Behind you, Jax was moving. 

“It’s a TIE Fighter,” she warned, sounding distressed. “How do they know we’re here?!” 

You ignored it for a moment, not breaking the moment with Mando. His fingers were slowly loosening around your wrists. You could see his chest rising and falling, shallow and quick. 

“WE HAVE TO GO!” Jax yelled again, coming to grip your shoulder. 

“Mando!” you barked at him. He let go of your wrists immediately, and pushed out of the seat past you. You immediately shot into action.

The first thing you did was replace him in the seat. You wracked your brain for new coordinates. _Something far but unexpected. First thing to come to mind. Come on come on come on-_

An idea flashed in your mind, and you found its coordinates without further question. It was a risk but your best shot. Still outer rim but far enough to lose their tail. 

Once coordinates were set your eyes flickered back up, catching the TIE fighter now gaining speed. It was still a long ways out. But there was no doubt anymore that its direction was honing in on you. 

“Strap in,” you ordered, doing so yourself with one hand as you thrust forward with the other. The ship lurched into action, gaining speed much faster than usual. After you felt the click, you gripped the controls with both hands. At first, you tightened so hard that you almost stopped feeling your fingers. Then you released a bit, letting blood flow back. A grounding technique. _Calm and focused,_ you reminded yourself, centering your breathing. Then you locked your eyes with the TIE fighter ahead. The sight of it brought you a deep, burning anger. It bubbled up from your gut into your throat like acid. 

“You know how to gun, Mandalorian?” you called out suddenly, surprising even yourself. 

“Yes,” came the immediate reply. 

“Go, then.” 

You didn’t have to explain anything else. The door was already sliding open and closed. 

“Six, we don’t need to take it on, we can just-”

“What kind of TIE Fighter is that, Jax?” you interrupted, pushing forward even faster towards it. You were closer now. You could sense it would fire at any moment. Jax took a second, which you assumed she was using to look harder. Right on time, the telltale green flash of several shots coming off arrived. With a sharp grunt, you veered left, barrel rolling over the shots safely. 

“Special forces grade,” Jax choked out once you had righted the ship again. The energetic whir of the ship pushing power to the guns vibrated the cockpit floor. Mando had made contact with the gunner pod. “They have hyperdrive.”

“You got eyes on the baby?” you asked. 

“He’s secure,” she assured. You grabbed the old, abused headset from its holder, and shoved it onto your head with one hand, adjusting the mic near your mouth. Then you turned the comm system on. 

“You good?” you called into the mic, lurching the ship to the right as several more shots narrowly avoided a wing. Instead of answering, your response was several shots from your own ship rocketing violently and rapidly towards the TIE Fighter, who barely avoided immediate destruction. You huffed, rolling your eyes. 

The ship was now within several hundred feet of you. It rolled to the right, which you corrected your ship to mimic. It was a perverted game of chicken you were playing. It was igniting something. The darker part of yourself. It felt… _alive_. 

You winced as you pulled up slightly to avoid the next barrage, one of them connecting against the belly of the ship. The whole thing jolted with the contact. Mando responded immediately, a particularly nasty set of shots flying back. Two of them made contact, damaging the left wing significantly. You righted your position, pushing forward directly. One hundred feet away and closing. The TIE fighter wobbled a bit as it tried to push forward. Fifty feet. Twenty feet. Ten feet. 

It shot at you again. You pulled to the right. You figured if something was going to take damage, it shouldn’t be the right side, where Mando was vulnerable. Two of the shots hit this time, causing a concerningly loud screeching sound as something got damaged. 

“Fuck,” you muttered. You hit the brakes suddenly, letting out a puff of air as your chest pressed sharply against the straps. You pulled the controls sharply, performing what was, essentially, a drift. The ship groaned into it, the force of the change in direction straining at the wings. “Come on,” you seethed. Just as the ship righted, Mando fired more shots. Right into its fucking ass. Just as you wanted.

It had no chance to react. It had all been done too fast. You watched, breath held, as the fighter shuddered and exploded before you. 

_No time to admire it._

Without another thought you thrust forward again, passing by the explosion. You checked the coordinates a second time as you picked up speed. 

“Hold on!” you called both to comms and Jax. Then you punched it to hyperspace. 

~~~~~~~

It had been about an hour. In all that time, the Mandalorian had not come back to the cockpit. You could hear soft movement every now and then behind you. You knew he was in the cabin. 

He had just left everything he owned, and his only mode of transportation, behind. Especially after your little display with the TIE Fighter, everyone knew the repercussions. Imperials didn’t fuck around. His ship was gone. 

You were happy to leave him to process that in peace. 

There was probably about an hour left of travel time before you hit the destination. Your body was fighting between staying in its adrenaline, and taking a nap. You turned to Jax. She had taken her blade out of its sheath on her back. It rested in her hands. She was rotating it, over and over, eyes cast on it as if entranced.

“Hey,” you called out gently, voice rough from the quiet. She breathed in quickly, waking herself from whatever thoughts she had been in. Her hair, falling messily from its braid, shifted to the side as she tilted her head up to look at you. “Hmm?” 

“What’s going on in that head of yours,” you questioned, leaning back in your seat with your hands behind your head. She looked back down to the blade. A sigh graced her lips. 

“Just been a while… Since I’ve seen a TIE. Or a light cruiser.” 

The two of you sat in silence again for a while. It was a heavy realization, seeing something like that active again. Out in the middle of nowhere. Even worse to know that they were after a child. _What kind of sick fucks…_

“We’ll get them, Jax,” you said after a while, with finality. She was running her thumb against the edge of the blade. Each time it caught on the edge it would make a soft _thck_ sound against her skin. Beyond her, the white bassinet was still tucked on one of the seats, the straps still securely fastened around it. The cover had been closed during the attack. You rose to your feet with a soft sigh, stretching out and warming up your body again. Then you headed over to the bassinet. 

“He’s going to have to tell us more,” Jax prompted, not looking up from the weapon. You crouched in front of the carrier, turning to regard her for a minute. 

“I think he will,” you hummed.

“Quite the stray you picked up this time.” 

You huffed, turning back to the task at hand. You felt the sides of the thing for a release or open button. 

“I know it’s not what you signed up for Jax. I’m sorry. If you want, I can take you home and-”

“We both know that can’t happen,” she interjected. You abandoned your efforts for a minute to look at her again. She was still admiring the sword, but there was a clench in her jaw and a darkness to her eyes. “Even if I _did_ want to leave, I know too much. Mando’d never allow it. If he’s as smart as I think he is, anyways. And besides,” She leaned over on the chair to put her face closer to yours, looking you in the eyes again. “I swore an oath on my parents. On my whole crew.”

“I know,” you soothed, your hands leaving the bassinet to touch her thigh. “You don’t have to-”

“Every last one, Six,” she continued, gaze burning with a fire so hot it would’ve felt ice cold to the touch. “Every last Imperial I ever lay eyes on will die… ‘Til my last breath.” 

You took a deep breath. Her words brought a deep well of emotion to the bottom of your chest. It threatened to spider up your veins, but you held it down. Your hand moved to cover hers, stopping it from its repeated motion over the blade. She stilled. 

“We’re going to get them, Jax,” you said again, voice harder this time. The grip on her hand tightened a little. Reminding her. She leaned towards you, giving your forehead a gentle kiss. You hummed a bit, letting it relax the muscles there you hadn’t realized were tense. Then you patted her thigh, and moved away. Back to the bassinet to try again. 

As your hands worked their way around the sides, the door opened beside you. You looked up to see the Mandalorian looming overhead. 

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“He’s been asleep for a long time. I just wanted to check and see if he’s okay.”

Without another word, he lifted his arm. You stood up, unsure what to expect. He paused mid-motion to watch you get up. Then he pressed something on one of his forearms. The bassinet peeled back, opening. 

You let out the breath you didn’t know you’d been holding. Quietly. Both you and he looked back to the baby. He was still tucked in his blankets, a bit more shaken and disheveled from the crazy flight you had just had. Two big green ears flopped over, twitching every once in a while. Still fast asleep. Even through all that.

“I thank my lucky stars every time I open that thing and he’s asleep.”

You looked at him in shock. _A personal anecdote?_ The smile that spread across your face was unintentional. 

“Yeah I bet it’s a relief to know he’s not going to use his superpowers on you,” you replied, waggling your fingers and stepping back to your spot in the pilot seat. You sunk into it with a heavy sigh. 

“He has superpowers?” Jax asked incredulously, looking from you to the child. You opened your mouth to say something smart, and then realized. No idea if you were supposed to tell Jax that or not. You pressed your lips together promptly, and turned to look at the Mandalorian, eyes wide and expectant. He was still by the entrance to the cockpit, his arms now crossed. 

“I don’t know how,” his voice began after a moment, “but he can move things with his mind. And he can heal people sometimes. He’s not in control of it, though. Not consistently.” He leaned to the side a bit, resting his shoulder against the wall with a gentle _clunk_ of his armor. 

“No wonder he’s got scum after him,” she sighed, looking down at the child with a new sense of wonder. “Probably want to turn him into a weapon, knowing them.” 

“Not happening,” he stated simply. 

The cockpit was quiet. You looked down at your hands. As touched as you were by his confidence in his protection of the child, the situation was a bit more dire than that. You were going to need more help than this, if you were going to defeat the threat for good. Otherwise, you feared the four of you might be on the run forever. 

“I wanted to say I’m sorry,” his voice picked up again, softer than you had ever heard it before. Jax and you both looked at him at the same time. “For before,” he clarified. “When I tried to take the ship. I… overstepped. It was disrespectful and dangerous. I’m sorry.” 

You kinda just… sat there for a while. It was totally out of the blue for you. The crowd you usually hung around didn’t utter an apology unless you had forced it out of their lips in exchange for their life. You kept trying to initiate something to say back, but the words weren’t there. 

“Well I get it,” Jax offered, shooting you a look before looking back to him. “Hard moment. I might’ve done the same.” She smiled at him, before lifting her blade and slipping it gently into its sheath. You cleared your throat, your fingers twisting together. 

“Yeah, it’s fine. Just, uh… Just don’t do it again, okay?” 

_Just don’t do it again? Are you four?_

“Of course,” he responded dutifully. 

The cockpit settled back into silence again. 

~~~~~~

“ _WATCH THE TREES SIX!_ ” Jax howled.

“ **_SHUT. UP!_ **” you screamed back at her. 

Your hands were gripping the controls so tightly you thought they might fall off. So the plan had been going great. Then you had discovered, upon breaking the atmosphere of the new planet, what had gotten hit in the fight earlier. 

A flap on the wing. Just one. But of course, it was fucking up everything. 

“Pull to that clearing over there,” the Mandalorian shouted from his seat. You saw it. It was a bit to the left. You pulled that direction, trying to slow your descent as much as possible before you had to hit ground. The ship wobbled a bit, unsure of its balance. After a bit of maneuvering, it managed to get there. 

“Got it,” you called back, lining yourself up. It should be fine. It was going to be fine. The ground was getting closer but it was going to be fine. “Hold on everyone, this is going to suck,” you announced. You pulled up a bit and towards your half of the ship, trying to get some extra drag from the wings as you got closer. It worked. Kind of. 

What followed was like being strapped inside of a barrel being shot off the side of a hill. The straps holding you to the seat kept you from launching out onto your own controls, but the result were sharp pangs to your chest and ribs. The ship groaned and shrieked as it slid across the clearing. The bumps and shakes rattled your skull and made your vision almost go white. After what felt like hours but was probably a few seconds, it finally slowed to a stop. Listing slightly to your side. The cockpit lights flickered for a second, but stayed on. Everything stopped.

“Everyone okay?” you gasped in air, unstrapping yourself immediately. 

“Fucking phenomenal,” Jax wheezed beside you, unbuckling her own straps to lean over her legs and catch her breath. You blinked a few times, trying to right your vision. It was a little blurred and disoriented as your body adjusted to the jolt. 

“Mandalorian?” you asked, as you clapped a hand onto Jax’s shoulder. 

“Fine,” he grunted, rolling his neck. The child, who he had wrapped his own body around, babbled a bit. “Kid’s awake.” 

You took a second, your hands on your hips. Letting your head tilt back, you closed your eyes. 

“Okay… Okay I don’t want to look at the damage but I have to.” You brought your head back to neutral, and stomped forward towards the cabin. Your initial shock had worn off, and been replaced by irritation. Anger, even. You shoved the door open, rolling your shoulder at the soreness. “Fuck,” you grumbled. Then you left them behind, moving to take a look. 

Your cabin was a mess. Things thrown even from the security of their shelves. Normally tied down enough to withstand barrel rolls and other such craziness, they seemed unable to hold their own against the fucking _ground_. You kicked a fallen health kit pissily.

“Fuck!” 

The doors opened to the side of the ship, revealing the outside world to you. You raised a hand in front of your face to shield your eyes from the sunlight. At least there was fresh air. Squinting, you hopped out, and turned around to take a better look.

The gap for the missing flap on the wing was staring back at you. As was the giant dent now in the side of the bottom of the craft. You sucked air through your teeth, making the rounds around the ship. The nose of the ship, by some miracle, had received a few scratches and smaller dents. As you trekked around to the other side, however, your heart sunk. 

There was a tear through the hull a few feet long. It had probably gotten breached by a rock or something as you guys had slid. The better news was that the wing looked undamaged. Much more doable to try to patch the hull than a wing in the middle of nowhere. More doable. Not easy. 

It was at that moment that the gravity of the past day and a half hit your body. You had not slept. You had not stopped moving, practically. 48 hours ago you thought you were on your way to a steep paycheck and vacation. Now you were stuck on a forest planet in the middle of nowhere, ship fucked up, with a baby to take care of, and the fucking ghost of the Empire on your ass. 

You couldn’t stop laughing. It had started as a sigh, and then bubbled into a chuckle. Now you were full-on cracking up. Alone. In the middle of nowhere. You slumped to the ground, sitting with your head in your hands. You felt the laughter turn sour, and bit you lip. _We are absolutely_ **_not_ ** _going to cry_ , you thought to yourself. Nevertheless, the itchy sensation of tears about to form in your eyes warned you of the truth. 

“Nope. Nope nope nope. You don’t take shit from anyone, including your own fucking _ship_. No crying. Suck it up. Suck it up,” you hissed, pushing the heels of your palms into your eyes in the hopes that you could somehow push the tired and overwhelm out of your brain. 

“I know a lot about ship repairs.” You startled, scrambling to your feet. He was leaning against the nose of the ship, watching you. 

“Do you sneak up on people for fun?” you asked, trying to play it off. It wasn’t working. Your chest hurt like a motherfucker, and you were exhausted. You breathed in a deep breath, trying not to wince at the pain in your ribs. 

“You tilted the ship to hit your side,” he offered, matter-of-factly. You stopped in your tracks. 

“What?”

“You tilted the ship to hit your side. So you’d take more of the impact.”

You looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful sky. A melancholy, gorgeous ashen blue. Little grey thin clouds blanketing it in whisps. 

“You can do repairs?” you asked. It was quiet. You kept looking up. Watching the clouds move across the sky with the wind. After a bit, you tilted your head down again. He was still there, just… regarding you. You raised your eyebrows at him, moving your hands around. “Ground control to tin man?”

“Yes,” he gruffed. There was… just the slightest hint of humor in his voice. 

“Excellent.” You straightened up, rolling your shoulders back in spite of the pain. “We still have power, but we should save it for our way out of here. Just in case.” With that, you started forward again. You still needed to check the back of the ship. “We’ll set up camp next to the ship. I can go get firewood with Jax in a bit. Go let her know please?” You called it over your shoulder, as you trained your eyes to what was happening towards the tail of the ship. It seemed relatively unharmed. You turned around to ask him for an answer.

He had already left. 

~~~~~~~

“I think he likes you,” Jax breathed playfully into your cheek, as you stumbled out of your shoe.

“I think he’s a big metal toaster getting in the way of me _liking_ **_you_** _._ ” You pushed the side of your face into hers more to give her cheekbone a quick kiss, before you discarded the other shoe up against the tree. Her laughter exhaled butterflies across your skin. She was so close, and it was just how you always wanted her to be. Intoxicating, beautiful, and _right up against you_. 

The two of you had been making trips into the forest since before sundown. You had all decided it best for Mando to stay with his little monster, since he knew him best. Now that he was awake, you were starting to understand more of why he liked him better when he wasn’t. The little thing was constantly aiming for trouble. 

Currently, you and Jax were on another run to collect extra tinder and wood for the next few days. Well, maybe not _currently_. It was on hold. For now. 

“He’s kinda hot, though,” she admitted to you, as she moved her hands down to brace the sides of your ribcage. Firm but careful. Then she lifted, pushing a small _-oof_ out of you as your back pressed up against the roughness of the bark behind you. You were still in pain from the crash, but not enough to care, especially if this was the reward. Your legs moved to wrap around her hips in a practiced manner. 

“Elaborate,” you sighed, your hands moving to cup her face. It was dusk, and hard to see her, but you didn’t need to. You had it all memorized by now. She pressed into your touch, and pushed you further against the bark, so you wouldn’t slip. 

“I dunno, he’s got this… energy about him. You’ve always been better at reading people than me, but he seems…” She was quiet for a moment. You listened intently to the sounds of your breathing interspersing with hers. The hushed chirps of nature settling down to rest. Her crotch pressed against yours, just enough pressure to make you feel a bit warmer. To send a shudder creeping its fingers down your spine and into your gut. 

“He’s hiding in plain sight,” you said, more just thinking out loud than anything. Jax’s face broke through your hands to settle in by your neck. Hot, breathy kisses making their way from the crook of your shoulder up, _up,_ **_up_ ** . Your head lolled. It had been so long since you had been touched, and _stars_ it felt like nothing else in the world. “He-He doesn’t know how to connect with people, but it’s almost like he _ah-_ ,” you broke all thought for a second as she bared down on your pulse point to suck what was going to be a deep purple bruise onto your skin. With a groan, you tangled fingers into her hair, gripping a bit tighter. Heat oozed down to your core and pooled there. You were starting to _itch_. 

Jax pulled off with a sinfully loud squelch, licking the mark gently before coming up to your ear. 

“ _Finish your thought so I can fuck you_ ,” she whispered. 

“It’s… almost like he wants to. Wants to connect. When I look past the rigidness, I see… someone who needs help,” you ended the sentence at her lips, breathing the statement into her body. Her lips, ever so lightly grazing yours, crept into a smile. 

“You’re lucky I’m good at keeping secrets,” she muttered back, smug. “What would the galaxy do if they discovered the infamous Six was nothing more than a big _softy-_ **_WOAH!_ **” 

You interrupted her by shoving your hands into her shoulders, lowering one of your feet to the back of her knee at the same time so that she came crashing to the ground on her back. The air pushed out of her as you straddled her hips, hand coming down to drag pressure right over her cunt. She gasped, out of breath, and then moaned, jutting herself up closer to the touch. Your other hand moved to wrap confidently around her throat. 

Though the lighting was dim and hard to see, the outline of her was disheveled. You could tell you had caught her off guard. The thought of it stroked your ego and went straight down to your crotch as if someone had just put a mouth on you. 

“ _Careful_ ,” you warned, voice much lower than before. It was husky now, swelling with arousal and power. The fingers around her neck closed just a bit, applying enough pressure to solidify the point. Then you wound your other hand up and over the waistband of her pants, forcing them down a bit with your wrist as you sunk lower. Your fingers almost immediately met coarse hair, and then thick, slick wetness. The pads of your pointer and middle finger stroked the very edge of her lips, collecting some of her. Jax’s body convulsed under you a bit, soft exhales of pleasure pushing out from her chest. 

Your fingers, now sopping, left her pants, and came to sit above her mouth. Using your thumb, you pulled her lower lip down. It was pillowy and soft against your touch. A wet tongue snaked out a bit, reaching. You obliged it, slowly pushing the fingers into her mouth, just enough for her to taste. She sucked them greedily and obscenely, tongue swirling to collect every last drop. 

“Fuck, so hot,” you hummed, slipping them back out again. Jax started to complain, but was quickly interjected by your mouth crashing into hers. She tasted musky, and slightly sweet. Like pussy. It vibrated your insides. More, more, more. “Want me to eat it out?” you sighed into her mouth, the hand now covered in spit moving back underneath her pants. You found the bud of her, and began torturously slow but pressured circles. She moaned higher in her throat. The hand around her neck squeezed a bit tighter, cutting the sound off as she gasped a bit. “Do you want me to make you cum on my mouth, all spread out for me like this?” Without hesitation, you felt her nod vigorously, her moans and whines coming out more heady. 

For a moment, you kissed her. Really savoring it. Reminding the both of you that the power play was just for fun. That there was deeper care and admiration there for both of you. The kiss was soft and full. The hand on the throat released into a gentle cupping, moving down to brush over her breast. Your other hand continued those circles on her clit, but the touch was more rhythmic. Intentional. Jax’s hands reached up to scratch nails lightly down your sides, under your shirt. 

Then you pulled away from her mouth, teeth grazing and pulling at her bottom lip a bit as you went. You descended her body, still mostly clothed but beautiful all the same. Her stomach was soft and rippled, and though you couldn’t see the white-tinted stripes there, you lifted the shirt a bit to place some kisses there. As you sunk lower, her hands ghosted over the sides of your face and up into your hair. The pants were shoved down past her knees. One after the other, you hooked your arms under and around thick thighs, your hands gripping them as you pulled them apart. You settled onto your stomach on the ground. And dug in. 

The second your tongue touched her clit, she let out a strangled cry, thighs pushing against your hands. Your face was already hot, your own arousal drumming between your thighs. Jax could simply sit there and it would be enough for you to cum to. _So fucking good._ You lapped long, repeated strokes up from the bottom of her clit with the flat of your tongue. 

“O-Ohh my _Gods_ , Six holy _fuuuuck_ ,” she whined, hands gripping tighter into your hair. Again and again, the same motion with your tongue. Building that pace you knew made her cum so so fast. You didn’t have time for the works, but you certainly had time to make it worth her while. She was already heaving, hips wriggling at the stimulation. “Fuck _me_ , you’re gonna make me cum too fast if you keep that up like tha- _a-ahhh-”_ You had switched to using the tip of your tongue, now scooping small, centered strokes right on her clit. The feeling of her literally _vibrating_ beneath you had your body begging to be touched. You didn’t go too fast. That wasn’t needed. The medium, repeated pace was perfection, and you knew it. She pushed harder against your hands with her thighs, to which you responded by shoving them further apart. 

“Hold still or I’ll stop,” you practically hissed, removing one of your hands from her thigh to smack the side of her ass. The _crack_ resounded through the forest, accompanied by a long, drawn out breath of pleasure. You wasted no time returning to the same rhythm. The hand that smacked her ass tucked under the waistband of your own pants now. It was too much, and your body was begging for it. When you touched yourself for the first time, the sound that left your lips and onto Jax’s pussy was guttural. Her hips jolted at the sound. You could tell from the leaves rustling the ground, and the tightening of her core, that she had adjusted herself onto her elbows. 

“You touching yourself, Six?” she panted, practically starting to grind against your face. You hummed your yes into her pussy, the hand that was on her thigh moving to press down on her lower stomach. Forcing her hips back to the ground. She let out a frustrated groan, shoulders and head dropping back to the ground again. Below, you were picking up the pace on yourself. The friction felt so fucking good, it was like she was fucking you, right now. _Or like you were fucking her_. You whimpered quietly, sharp pangs of pleasure beginning to work their way down your legs and up your spine. “Such a little slut for my pussy, Six.” Jax was smiling. You could hear it. Your tongue went faster for a minute. She yelped at the sensation, hips jutting. Then you returned to shorter strokes, goading her body along. 

Every out breath was becoming a moan or a cry for her now, tummy heaving under your palm. Your skin was so hot, you thought you might burn up. Both of you were slick with sweat. Writhing, dirty animals fucking on the forest floor. It excited you to no end. You removed your hand from yourself to rub it quickly between her folds. Soaking. She squealed, pushing into the hand, but it was already gone again. Selfishly tucked back to yourself, now with more lubrication. The feeling of her slick on you was so intimate and wet that it punched a groan from your chest, head falling back down to eat at her pussy. The pace was building. Her moans louder, more choked. Fingers in your hair winding almost painfully tight. Your tongue laved over and over and over. The friction between your legs getting hotter, better, stronger. _Fuuuuck._

“Gonna cum,” she practically sobbed, hips desperately pressing against your hand to come up. You took the hand away, just to take your middle finger and slowly push into her cunt. Tongue still dancing over her clit, winding her up so tightly. She gasped, holding in more and more air. You felt her beginning to tighten around your finger. “Please, oh my _Gods_ , baby, I- I-” Your other hand fucked yourself with abandon. You were trying not to lose focus on her, but holy shit it was just so fucking sexy. The middle finger in her pussy began pulsing slightly in and out, creating that lovely friction in her core. She tightened further onto you, moans suddenly pitching up and _up and-_

She came, a strangled cry pressing from her chest. The waves of clenching from her pussy informed the timing of your tongue, now brushing in broader, messier strokes. Taking her through it, your own body shaking in anticipation of your not-yet orgasm. You slipped your ring finger inside her, just to give her more to cum on. 

_“YES, yes YES ohhhh ffffuuu-.”_ She just kept cumming, and cumming. Hips and thighs shivering and quaking of their own volition. You were faintly aware of how loud you were moaning, still grinding and fucking into your own hand as much as you could. Eventually her pulsing began to subside, and you slowed your ministrations to match it. Riding her all the way down to the end. The gasps became breaths again, and the moans became sighs. “You… you are literally…” -out of breath- “...literally going to kill me one day,” she finally concluded with a laugh. You just moaned into her, giving her pussy a few last good licks. Once she started jolting against the sensation, you gave it up, finally pulling away. You pushed up onto your knees, stretching your torso and arms up into the sky. Your now slightly achy muscles delighted in the stretch, and you let out a heavy sigh. Then you plopped theatrically onto your back, legs bent and open wide.

“Make me cum or I will die,” you said, with drama. She laughed good and hard at that, but was already pushing herself up to come get on top of you. 

“ _Stars_ , I’m shaking still.” 

“A compliment!” you said exaggeratedly, sticking a fist into the air in victory. 

Her hands were on you. You shivered, feeling goosebumps trail over your arms. She grabbed you by the hips, yanking you closer to her. Then she pulled the ties of your pants apart, and shoved them down to your ankles. You moaned a bit in anticipation, your already worked up arousal throbbing for more. 

“Bet you’re already seconds from cumming, aren’t you?” she whispered, lowering her head down in between your legs. You could feel her warm breath on you already, and your body convulsed for it. It punched a breath from you. 

“ _Please_ , Jax,” you huffed, squirming. One of your hands came to wrap gently in her hair. 

She finally put her mouth on you. Slick, wet, _warm._ She licked a sickly slow, heavy line up you. You moaned loud and low, unashamed. You were dying for it. Already strung up high. Desperate. Then her tongue went to work. 

Each new stroke roughed over you like a lightning strike. Gods it felt so good you could _cry._ The heat was already burning up in your core, winding steadily and steadily tighter. 

“Oh fuck. Oh fuck, oh fuck, _oh fuck_ ,” you whispered over and over, fingers winding tighter into her hair. “You fuck me so fucking good, _please_ make me cum all over that pretty face.” She moaned into you, making your back arch off the ground. The pace was picking up, dragging you closer and closer. The friction so hot and wet and slick on you, making you convulse and tighten more and more.

“I’m gonna cum soon,” you whined, fucking up onto her mouth more with your hips. She let you do it, mouth loose and open and tongue out. You grinded and fucked her mouth, feeling pleasure drag all the way up your body into your head. The slurping and heavy breathing made you throb, and you cried out, free hand clawing on the ground. 

You could feel yourself holding your breath, your hips turning up to get closer. _More, stay, right there._ Her fucking mouth was pulling you taught. Your muscles were tense, get tighter and more rigid by the second. Mouth was hanging open in a permanent silent moan. Barely breathing, pressing up and up.

“Gods, yes, fuck, mmmmmh, please, _so, close_ ,” you could barely speak, gasping after each word, short little breaths. She just went at it harder, gripping her hands into the meat of your legs as she took you. The pleasure and white-hot heat was coiling up so fucking tight you thought it might never ever break. “Mmmmmmmmm, fuuuuck Jax I’m gonna cum,” you warned, tensing tighter and tighter and tighter. It was rushing closer and closer, curling your toes. You sucked in a deep breath of air right as it slammed into you.

You broke into her, spasming as you came fucking _hard_ . The pleasure ricocheted from your core out to every corner in your body. You screwed your eyes shut, moaning and breathing as the waves crashed over and over again. Everything so warm and wet and messy and pulling at you. _Fucking. Every. Last. Drop._ Your hand in her hair pressed down a bit, riding her to the rhythm of your orgasm. She happily obliged, eating and sucking to her heart’s content as you rode it out. 

After a while, the feeling returned to your face and hands. You took in deeper breaths, hips juttering at Jax’s continued ministrations. She slowed, mouth moving away to press kisses into your thighs. It drew shivers to the surface of your skin. 

“Thank you,” you croaked, one of your hands coming up to flop over your forehead. Jax laughed, warm breath bursting against you as she pushed back to sit up. 

“Think that’s enough for you to go the fuck to bed?” she asked pointedly. You sighed, pushing up onto your elbows. Couldn’t help the soft hiss at your body’s sharp reminder of the bruises on your ribs. 

“I could go the fuck to bed right here,” you admitted. And it was true. The orgasm had seemed to pull all remaining life from your body. All your limbs felt like lead. “But one of us needs to be up with the Mandalorian at all times,” you grunted as you struggled to stand. Jax rose along with you, grabbing your hand to help you the rest of the way. Once on your feet, you looked down at your legs, and then back up at Jax. It was dark by now, but the outline of you was enough to crack Jax up. 

“What, you don’t like the pants-at-the-ankles look?” you asked incredulously. You shuffled forwards a bit, emphasizing the awkwardness of it. She laughed harder, pushing your shoulder away.

“Maybe don’t walk back into camp crotch-first,” she huffed, pulling her own pants up the rest of the way. 

“No promises,” you retorted, starting to recollect all your belongings. And your pants. “What was that you said earlier? …. ‘He’s kinda hot, though?’”

“Listen, all I’m saying is I know chemistry when I see it. I’ll say I told you so after the first time you two screw.”

“Sure you won’t be _jealous_?” you joked, as you tied the strings of your pants back together again. She snorted dramatically.

“Six, I don’t care that you’re injured. I will punch you right in your ribcage.” 

~~~~~~~

The fire was crackling loudly in the otherwise quiet scene. The three of you had worked to drag some larger rocks over to the small camp you had set up next to your ship. You were all chilling under the wing, so you’d have some protection from any rain that might come. It was well past midnight, and the only lights to be found were the orange hues from the fire, and the gentle white glow in the sky of other, distant moons. 

The Mandalorian hadn’t said anything since you both had stumbled back out of the woods. Looking particularly more… disheveled. You had no shame about it, even if he _could_ tell. Jax didn’t really seem to care either. She had leaned up against one of the rocks, and set to work sharpening her blade. 

Passing the time hadn’t been an issue, as one or all of you were consistently getting up to chase an escaping baby. He was particularly full of energy that evening. Probably due to his big power nap, you had ventured to guess. The little tunic would shuffle against the ground, and you would all sigh. In the nighttime, many new creatures had emerged. They would patter and buzz in the near distance, catching the baby’s attention. 

Twice already, you had pulled an unfortunate, living creature out of his mouth. It sent icky shivers down your spine even thinking about it. 

The child was seated in your lap. Across from you, you couldn’t tell if Mando was watching you, or sleeping. You doubted it was the second one. Not while you had his kid in your arms. You brushed a hand over the baby’s head, flattening the fuzzies down. 

“Hey,” you whispered by his head. He tilted it up to see you, big black eyes catching the light of the fire. You smiled a bit. He was sweet. He mimicked it, widening his mouth and letting out a little gurgle. “Do you like stories?” The baby cooed, as though copying language but not quite getting there. His little three-clawed hand reached up to grab at your face. 

“Okay,” you started, as he pinched at your nose. “Well, all the best bounty hunters have an origin story. Jax has one. See that big lady, right there?” You pointed at her. Across the fire, Jax stuck her middle finger in your direction, not looking up from what she was doing. You let out a dramatic gasp, covering the baby’s eyes with your hand. “She’s not a bounty hunter, though. She’s something else. Something special… She’ll have to tell you that story another time.” 

You started bouncing him gently on your leg, trying to keep him lulled. 

“I’m sure your dad has one too,” you hummed, eyes flicking up to look at Mando again. His form didn’t budge from its spot at all. Maybe he _was_ asleep. “My name is Six. It’s not… quite my _real_ name. But it’s the name I go by. And I _earned_ it.” 

The child had turned completely around now, staring up at you and sitting in your lap. He seemed to be actually listening to what you had to say. It took you aback. You had expected your words to fall upon ears that just needed white noise. One of your hands came up to offer him your finger. He took it eagerly, gripping it tight in his hand. You smiled, content, and continued.

“Many years ago, when I was little- like you- I lived in a small village, on a planet called Naboo. It was… beautiful. So many rivers and waterfalls. Have you ever seen a waterfall?” He looked up at you, pulling your finger slowly towards his opening mouth. “Okay, well, lots of water. Lots of green. I lived there with my parents. They were powerful people. My mom, she was so big and strong that she could carry a huge battle axe over shoulder like it was nothing!” you explained, miming to him with a puffed out chest. “And my dad… he was clever. Always mapping and planning. He spoke like he had always written down the words beforehand. Best speaker I ever heard.”

You pulled your finger away just as he went to clamp down on it with his teeth. He pouted up at you, grabbing for it again. You lifted him closer, moving him back to bounce on your leg again. 

“Sorry, I know. Enough exposition. One day, some strange people came to our house. They didn’t knock, they just blasted the door down. BOOM!” You put your hands in front of his face, exploding them outwards to explain the force of it. He breathed in, eyes getting wider. “They weren’t very nice. They knew my mom and dad were very strong people. Good people. So they made them go away forever.” The small hand lifted again, balling into a fist before getting shoved into his own mouth. He was definitely reinvested. The ears twitched towards you in earnest. 

“I’ll spare you the details. But after it was over, they took me with them. You see, they thought they could pawn me off in Tatooine. I was still pretty young. Thought they could get a profit off me. So I waited until they dragged me onto their ship. They put me in a corner, and took off into space. Do you know what?” you asked, pinching his little nose gently with your fingertips. “They didn’t even think to tie me up! I was a mess: crying, snotty, shaking. That’s your first lesson, baby. Don’t ever underestimate someone.” 

You took a moment, just watching him. He was staring back at you. He had been growing stiller and stiller as you spoke. Now he took his fist out of his mouth, letting it fall onto his tunic. You kept bouncing him, gentler now.

“I waited until they started to fall asleep. And then I made them all go away. All six of them. Forever.” 

It was quiet for a while. Then you breathed in, holding him a bit closer to your chest as you leaned back further onto the rock. 

“Of course, I had no idea how to fly. So I waited, on that little craft. Waited a long, long time. Just floating… And _then_ ,” you emphasized, “I got lucky. Really lucky. A crew happened upon my ship. A group of bounty hunters, _just_ like your dad. They got me out of there. And they called me Six. After the six bad guys I had ki-... made go away. And that’s how I got my name.” 

He was chirping a bit, his eyes drooping. It brought to your attention just how much you had also been drifting off. You breathed deeper, opening your eyes more. The fire snapped and crackled in the light breeze. Beside you, Jax was looking at you, eyes soft. 

“It’s been days, Six. You need to rest,” she said gently. You shook your head, sniffing to yourself. 

“I told you you could take the first rest and I’d stay up with the baby-”

“He’s asleep,” the Mandalorian’s voice came through suddenly. Crystal clear. Wide awake. The helmet rolled to the side slightly, directed at the child. You peeked down, finding that he was, in fact, laying against you. Soft snoring rumbling against your stomach. “Might as well sleep, too. If you move he’ll wake.”

You looked back over to him. The beskar took on a weird goldish tone in the firelight. Then you sighed, and held the child closer to your body. 

“Fine. Jax, just a few hours, okay? I’m taking second watch.” She nodded, going back to her work. 

“Just a few hours. Go to sleep.” 

And so, you wriggled a bit to get comfortable. And then you closed your eyes. As if your body had been waiting on bated breath for this moment, you sunk into sleep almost immediately. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Let me know what you think, I love feedback! If you ever notice that I've accidentally gendered Six at any time, do NOT hesitate to let me know so I can go fix it. I try to read through it a few times but, ya know, shit happens :}. Super excited to continue this. Also this is my first work on Ao3 so I apologize in advance for any stumbling in format as I learn this site!


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